Chiba takes over as chairman of EnTie Commercial Bank

CHANGES Four new members were also appointed to the board after Longreach Group's successful acquisition of a 51 percent shareholding

By Joyce Huang / STAFF REPORTER

EnTie Commercial Bank (安泰銀行) yesterday replaced five members of its nine-seat board, including outgoing chairman Paul Chiu (邱正雄), the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

Replacing Chiu is Mike Chiba, a partner and chairman of Longreach Group, which spent NT$18.8 billion (US$560 million) to acquire a 51 percent controlling stake in the bank.

The four other new board members are also representatives from the private equity firm: Kazunori Okimoto, Bernard Kwan, Makoto Inoue and Yasuyuki Miyoshi.

EnTie is scheduled to hold another shareholders' meeting on Dec. 27 to complete a full board reshuffle after its new foreign owner takes over the company's helm, bank spokesman Tang Tsung-chi (唐存智) said in a telephone interview.

Tang said that capital infusion from Longreach had transformed EnTie, which had been posting losses, into a foreign-owned bank.

Chiba's three-year chairmanship took effect yesterday, Tang said, but added that the new chairman was looking for a chief executive officer to manage the bank.

"It's likely that he will search in the local talent pool for a Taiwanese professional who has had experience working for foreign-owned banks," he said.

Speculation on potential candidates has been widely reported in the Chinese-language media, which said Chiba may consider offering a package deal that includes an annual salary of NT$22 million to Jesse Ding (丁予康), president of Taipei Fubon Bank (台北富邦銀行), and its parent Fubon Financial Holding Co's (富邦金控) chief executive Victor Kung (龔天行).